Doris A. Derby

Doris A. Derby was a documentary photographer whose documented professional activity spans the years 1968 to 1971. Her photographic practice focused primarily on documenting social, economic, and community structures in the American South, particularly in Mississippi and Louisiana, during a crucial period of transition.

Derby's works provide direct, factual records of localized resistance, community health initiatives, and cooperative economics. Examples of her subject matter include the cooperative business environment depicted in Grand Marie Farmers' Cooperative, Lafayette, Louisiana and the local infrastructure shown in Black-owned Grocery Store, Sunday, Mileston, Mississippi. Other photographs detail the critical work of medical providers, such as Nurse Ora Bouie and a Doctor at the Tufts-Delta Health Clinic, Mount Bayou, Mississippi. Her work also recorded high-profile civil rights adjacent events, including the emotionally charged documentation of Mother, Myrtle Greene Burton, and Stepfather, Matt Burton, During the Funeral of Their Son James Earl Green, Jackson, Mississippi.

The significance of Derby’s visual documentation is established by the inclusion of her work in major national collections. Eight of her photographs are preserved in museum collections, notably at the National Gallery of Art. The availability of these high-quality prints contributes to the visual scholarship of the era. These records, sometimes available as downloadable artwork, offer critical insight into Southern life during the latter half of the 20th century.